James Gurney

This daily weblog by Dinotopia creator James Gurney is for illustrators, plein-air painters, sketchers, comic artists, animators, art students, and writers. You'll find practical studio tips, insights into the making of the Dinotopia books, and first-hand reports from art schools and museums.

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Imaginative Realism

Dinotopia: The World Beneath

"A ravishing, action-packed adventure." —Smithsonian. Now with 32 extra behind-the-scenes pages. Signed by the author/illustrator

Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara

160 pages, fully illustrated in color. Written and illustrated by James Gurney. Signed by the author

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Writing GurneyJourney takes dozens of hours each month. If you get as much out of this blog as you get from a cup of coffee or a nice meal out, please consider contributing to my citizen journalism in the visual arts.

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or by email:gurneyjourney (at) gmail.comSorry, I can't give personal art advice or portfolio reviews. If you can, it's best to ask art questions in the blog comments.

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All images and text are copyright 2015 James Gurney and/or their respective owners. Dinotopia is a registered trademark of James Gurney. For use of text or images in traditional print media or for any commercial licensing rights, please email me for permission.

However, you can quote images or text without asking permission on your educational or non-commercial blog, website, or Facebook page as long as you give me credit and provide a link back. Students and teachers can also quote images or text for their non-commercial school activity. It's also OK to do an artistic copy of my paintings as a study exercise without asking permission.

There is something awe-inspiring about these early videos. Thanks to the Internet I've seen vintage films of everyday life the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and the USA. Peering at them you can almost see real people: the generations born, living, dying; the buildings built, used, demolished; times of peace, war, disaster; new technologies bursting into life as old technologies fade quietly away. In color, even false color, it hits home even harder. That's us, embracing the latest fashion, anticipating the future, clinging to the past, marching off to war...and another war,and another. How different we are! How much the same!

Beautifully put, Smurfswacker. It's hard to put my finger on, but there are qualities to these films that are impossible for Hollywood period flicks to reconstruct, no matter how much effort they put into costumes and sets or even to giving the film retro artifacts. Maybe it has to do with the way people move. In the Berlin film you could see all the hat habits, for example, gentlemen tipping their hats to royalty or to a lady, are the way corseted women used to walk.